Players: 'We're tired of cheating'

Aug. 6, 2013
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by Paul White, USA TODAY Sports

by Paul White, USA TODAY Sports

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The bigger the names, the harder they fight, the faster the groundswell builds from players to clean up their ranks.

Alex Rodriguez was the only one of 13 suspended players Monday to contest the results of Major League Baseball's most sweeping series of punishments ever. But the New York Yankees slugger's case takes to a new level the rhetoric that exploded after Ryan Braun's 65-game suspension last month. It's a remarkable turnaround from the membership of a union that in the past went on strike in part because of its opposition to drug testing.

"As players as a whole, we're tired of cheating," said pitcher Max Scherzer, whose Detroit Tigers lost shortstop Jhonny Peralta for 50 games on the first day of a crucial playoff-race series at Cleveland. "We're tired of guys who blatantly try to break the system. That's something that we have to find a way to shore up so this doesn't happen again.

"With Jhonny, it's disappointing," he said. "It really is."

Scherzer lost a teammate, but it was an even more personal jolt for former pitcher Dan Meyer, who tweeted:

"Hey, Antonio Bastardo, remember when we competed for a job in 2011? Thx a lot."

Bastardo, another of the 12 players who accepted 50-game suspensions Monday, has been with the Philadelphia Phillies since making the roster that spring. Meyer, a marginal player who had been in and out of the majors over a seven-year period, never got back.

Players who feel cheated of a chance to win a major league job; players who feel betrayed by teammates; players who are tired of answering questions about the actions of others - they're spreading a common message.

And that's likely to drastically accelerate a process that - since baseball began testing a decade ago - has moved more quickly and under more scrutiny than in any other pro sport.

"We can change any provision of the CBA," MLB Players Association executive director Michael Weiner said in a conference call. "We've heard from a lot of players who think increased penalties are called for. We've heard from other players who don't think increased penalties are called for."

Weiner says players can have their voices heard at union meetings after the season.

"We'll figure out where the players are on the issue of enhanced penalties," Weiner said. "We have to talk about how we can deal with it, whether we can deal with it by additional means of detection or whether we deal with it by additional means of penalty."

As the Biogenesis scandal has taught us, a lack of positive tests doesn't mean lack of performance-enhancing drug use.

Remember, this group of suspended players have regularly passed drug tests during their careers. Baseball might indeed have pro sports' toughest program, but it apparently has holes.

MLB began its aggressive investigation of the South Florida clinic only after the Miami New Times kicked open the door and revealed the names of numerous major leaguers.

Would it be naïve to think there aren't similar operations in other places that just haven't shown up in some news media outlet's investigative work? There's no doubt an economic incentive still exists for players to take the chance.

"MLB hasn't closed the loophole to create the incentive to cheat," Scherzer said after the 65-game suspension of Braun, who still has $113million left on his contract with the Milwaukee Brewers once he's eligible to play again.

Rodriguez would have $61 million coming from the Yankees, even if he ends up suspended through the 2014 season.

As unthinkable as a drug testing program might have seemed to players union pioneer Marvin Miller, more progressive is the level of cooperation between MLB and the union.

Their natural differences remain - and have even been strained by some of the particulars of the Biogenesis case - but the fact remains they have toughened policies and tightened loopholes several times without waiting for the next CBA negotiations, including the addition of blood testing for human-growth hormone in 2012.

The time is ripe again, so much so that Weiner has had to remind players that part of the union's role is to protect their right to due process.

"Some players' initial reaction is just throw the book at 'em," Weiner said of violators. "We have to explain what rights those players have. At the same time we have a drug agreement to enforce."

Maybe fans have become numb to drug use in sports, sounding more like Adam LaRoche, the Washington Nationals first baseman who said Monday, "I'm so over it, I don't even care anymore."

But many of his peers aren't.

"We're doing what's necessary, the right thing," said Texas Rangers pitcher Joe Nathan." I know the fans are angry and disappointed, but really, I think the players using PEDs now is such a small percentage. If we're not at a level playing field, we're pretty darn close to it."

Contributing: Harry Hawkings in Washington, George Sipple in Cleveland, David Leon Moore in Anaheim, Calif.